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Gaven Thankful For Early Flight

By: Adam Jardy

The Columbus Dispatch - February 14, 2013 08:47 AM

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Eddie Gaven picked the right time to grab an earlier flight home.

As the Crew put the finishing touches on preseason training in Bradenton, Fla., the veteran Crew
midfielder was in constant contact with his wife back home in Columbus. Paula Gaven was set to have
the couple’s second child, and on Feb. 1 she told her husband that she didn’t feel right. With the
Crew scheduled to leave Florida the following morning, Gaven decided not to wait.

It paid off.

“I was able to go home and she actually slept that night but she woke up at 5 that morning and
said, ‘I think I’m going into labor,’ ” he said after yesterday's 4-0 win against Philadelphia as
part of the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic. “The team wasn’t scheduled to get in until 2:30
p.m. that day and she gave birth at 10:30 a.m. so I would’ve missed it. Good thing I made the
switch.”

All involved are healthy and doing fine, Gaven said.

Gaven spent the following week in Columbus helping his family settle into a new routine before
joining the Crew in Orlando on Monday. In all, he took a little more than a week away from the
team. In yesterday’s 4-0 win against Philadelphia, Gaven played the entire second half and assisted
on the Crew’s third goal.

“I felt good,” he said afterward. “A little bit tired toward the end there, maybe because of the
heat down here. It feels good though. I thought the team played great. We scored four really nice
goals and it’s definitely something we can build off of.”

And although the time away from the newest member of the family has been challenging, Gaven
quickly pointed out that technology has helped blunt the absence.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I’m very, very thankful that I had that first week at least. It’s still
hard to be gone for the next two weeks but that’s the reason they have Skype. I’m able to see them
on that, which is nice. I’ll be back there soon, in two weeks.”

Finlay/FinleyIn addition to nearly sharing the same last name, Ryan Finley and Ethan Finlay scored their
first preseason goals against the Union.

Finley, the rookie, got the Crew on the board. With Jairo Arrieta away for much of the preseason
while playing with the Costa Rican national team, Finley has spent plenty of time up top with the
first unit.

“Like I said when I got drafted, my mind-set is just to come in and work as hard as I can,” he
said. “If that’s scoring goals or just chasing defenders down and being a nuisance up there, I just
want to come in and be a better player. Playing five minutes, 90 minutes, 15 minutes, I just want
to help the team however I can.”

Finlay, last year’s first-round draft pick, said he feels things coming together quickly.

“Today our second-team, per se, … these guys are molding very quickly,” he said. “I think you
see it even when the first guys got on. (Federico Higuain) is connecting with Matias (Sanchez) and
(Agustin) Viana and you’ve got (Dominic) Oduro on the right-hand side who is trying to connect with
Josh (Williams). I think you are starting to see relationships built. It will take time though to
really understand how someone plays and what they want, but I think we’re seeing a lot of good
development.”